Macau to reopen city as no COVID-19 infections detected for 9 days

 People stand near Casino Lisboa, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Macau, China July 4, 2022. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

HONG KONG — Macau will reopen public services and entertainment facilities, and allow dining-in at restaurants from Tuesday, authorities said, as the world’s biggest gambling hub seeks a return to normalcy after finding no COVID-19 cases for nine straight days.

Beauty salons, fitness centres, and bars too will be allowed to resume operations, the government said in a statement on Monday.

Health authorities will require residents to wear masks when they go out and must show a negative coronavirus test within three days to enter most venues.

“There have been no community infection cases in Macau for nine consecutive days … and the risk of the spread of the coronavirus has been greatly reduced,” it said.

The former Portuguese colony has reported around 1,800 infections since mid-June when it was hit with its worst coronavirus outbreak that forced the closure of casinos and locked down most of the city.

Macau reopened its casinos on July 23, as authorities began unwinding stringent measures which required most businesses and premises to shut.

This is the first time Macau has had to grapple with the fast spreading Omicron variant.

More than 90% of Macau’s residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but authorities have closely followed China’s zero-COVID mandate which seeks to curb all outbreaks at almost any cost, contrary to the rest of the world which is already living with the virus.

The city only has one public hospital which was already overburdened even before the pandemic.

While Macau’s casinos are open, there is likely to be no business for at least a few weeks, analysts said, due to strict restrictions still in place.

Sands China, Wynn Macau, MGM China, Galaxy Entertainment, SJM Holdings and Melco Resorts are the current six casino license holders in Macau. Their licenses will expire by the end of the year.

They are soaking up losses as they prepare to bid for new licenses in a business that generated $36 billion in revenue in 2019, the last year before COVID curbs slammed the sector.

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